In this week’s top stories: Meltdown and Spectre CPU vulnerabilities, Apple offers more details on iPhone battery replacements, Apple Watch reboots caused by ICU equipment, and more. Read on for all of this week’s news…

Following its apology and cheaper battery replacements, Apple this week offered more details on the devices eligible for replacements. The company says that all iPhone 6 devices and later qualify for replacements, regardless of whether or not they pass diagnostics tests. Furthermore, a separate report explains that Apple Stores are already swamped with requests for new batteries, creating long wait times.

Also this week, a major security vulnerability in all recent Intel processors and select ARM chips came to light. Referred to as Meltdown and Spectre, Apple says that all Mac and iOS devices are affected, but that some fixes have already been included in recent macOS and iOS updates.

Elsewhere, we reported this week that some Apple Watch users are suffering from unexpected reboots when in proximity of ICU equipment:

The common thread appears to be using the Apple Watch in the intensive care unit of some hospitals. This suggests there may be specific ICU-related equipment used in hospitals that could be interfering with Apple Watch Series 3 with or without cellular.

Apple also released new iOS 11.2.5, watchOS 4.2.2, macOS 10.13.3, and tvOS 11.2.5 betas this week. Information also came to light regarding Apple’s possible involvement in what fans of “The Office” believed to be a spin-off revival.

These and the rest of this week’s top stories below:

CES 2018 |

This week Benjamin and Zac catch up on Apple news since the new year including talk about the iMac Pro accessories and wallpaper, Apple Watch Activity Sharing and Series 3 rebooting in ICUs, the need for a refreshed HomePod pitch before launch, how Alexa compares to Siri today, and Apple’s iPhone battery response.

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